Interview: Johnny Knoxville

Interview by Clint Morris

Interview with Johnny Knoxville
Star of the movie The Dukes of Hazzard.

Having heard about what wild things he had been getting up to in the two days leading up to our interview - of the first 36 hours he spent in the country, he spent 30 of them drinking - it's understandable for an interviewer to be a little chary of Johnny 'Jackass' Knoxville.

One doesn't know quite what to expect - simply envisioning the host of an out-of-control frat party with one of those beers with a couple of cutesy blondes tied to each arm. Heck, was he going to be as high as the Empire State? As animated as a cordial-induced ten-year-old? Or would he be hanging his boys outside the window of his hotel room in the thrilling hope that a bird would pay a visit?

Sadly, there will be no stories of stapled Johnson's or snoozing on sofas here. In fact, Johnny Knoxville was as pleasant, and as restrained, as a small-town Governor planning on a second term.

Then again, it is just possible I've forgotten about half the things that went on in front of my Dictaphone. Why? The cordial actor fed the interviewer a tall frothy beer upon entering the room. Clint Morris has a beer with the star of The Dukes of Hazzard.

Knoxville says Australia "exceeded my expectations."

Knoxville, twisting the top of his brew, is having the time of his life in Australia, he says.

"I love being in Australia. I've always wanted to come and I haven't been disappointed in the least, it's exceeded my expectations. I've been having a ball, I don't wanna leave," says Knoxville, best known as the head crazy prankster on TV hit "Jackass".

Sadly, he does have to leave, this is his last day in the country promoting the big-screen redo of the TV hit Dukes - in which he plays Luke Duke - but it's been both a pleasure and a blast, says the amusing actor.

Best of all, he's getting to plug a movie that was not only a joy to make, but one he's glad he got to make. Funnily enough, he wasn't initially interested though.

"I was a big fan of the old show, and they offered it to me and I was like 'Ah, I dunno,' I wanted to make sure they were going to spice it up for the big screen.

"The show was great, but it was really middle of the road, because it was Television. When I heard that they were going to take some changes and that they were going to get Dan Bradley - everyone in Hollywood wants Dan Bradley to shoot their car stuff, as a second-unit director for the car stuff - I said 'Alright, I'll do it.'"

Knoxville, who used to write for magazines before making the transition to TV and Film star, didn't get to spend much time behind the wheel of the General Lee - Seann William Scott got that honour - but he's not complaining. "Seann got to do that - I got the chicks, which was perfect," he laughs. "Keep the car."

Working with Seann William Scott was great, says Knoxville, and he especially liked it that William Scott was rooting for Knoxville all along for the role in the movie. "He was onboard first and said he wasn't doing it without…me," says Knoxville.

It was also a joy working with Willie Nelson, who plays Uncle Jesse in the movie. "Willie is the coolest guy on the planet. He's hilarious and sweet and brilliant. He's a good one. He's always telling jokes - one after the other."

The question is, did the spokesman for wellmadebongs.com share his stash? "Shit yeah," laughs Knoxville. "If you go on the bus - there's five people on the bus - five joints get rolled immediately, and they start passing them around. It's crazy.

"Willie was on Howard Stern once with someone who smokes a lot of weed. They had a joint-rolling contest and Willie just smoked him! It was like Gene Wilder pulling his gun in Blazing Saddles and nothing's in his hand."

Though he realises the movie is a total no-brainer, he is proud of the movie. "There's no heavy leaving, it's just a fun film," he says. "It was a good excuse to blow shit up, get into some bar fights, watch some car stunts, and see Jessica [Simpson] in the Daisy Dukes - and that's what it is, very escapist fun."

Knoxville (centre) with co- stars from The Dukes of Hazzard, Seann William Scott and Burt Reynolds

Knoxville's making some real routes into film. Since making his debut in the film Coyote Ugly, which he said he basically accepted because it was money to help raise his daughter when he didn't have any, he's appeared in such films as Big Trouble, Men in Black II, Walking Tall (with The Rock), Lords of Dogtown, and A Dirty Shame, directed by the legendary John Waters of Pink Flamingos and Hairspray fame.

"I love that movie," Knoxville says of the 2004 comedy. "After I finished that film I thought, no matter what happens [to it], they can't take away the fact that I still made a movie with John Waters."

Still, Knoxville doesn't want to do comedies forever, and has already started his shift into more dramatic pieces. His next film, Daltry Calhoun, is "a drama about a man who sees his daughter for the first time in fourteen years. It's a Miramax film that Quentin Tarantino produced. I'm really, really, proud of that film," enthuses Knoxville.

After that, he returns briefly to the funny stuff for the Farrelly Brothers' comedy, The Ringer. "It's about a guy who enters the Special Olympics because he's hard up for money. I'm excited about that one too.

"The Special Olympics are behind it - it sounds mean spirited on the surface, but it's not, because all the mean stuff happens to me. We cast real mentally changed actors in the roles and they're just brilliant," said the American actor.

As for those rumours about a Dukes of Hazzard sequel set in London? Total bulldust, says Knoxville, and if they film a sequel anywhere - it'll be Australia. "I'm signed up for the sequel, I don't know what's going on [with that], but that was just shit talk. Lets shoot it in Australia!"

Rumours of a "Jackass 2" - which has even been spotted on release schedules - is also untrue, says Knoxville, who left the comedy series about four years back. "That's weird. That should be something I should know about," he says.

Knoxville's a little bowled over by his success, and finds it especially surreal to be gracing the covers of such magazines as GQ. "It's got real funny lately…and it just keeps getting funnier," he laughs. "I didn't even think I was going to graduate highschool man, so all this…it just confuses."

Knoxville, who just purchased a cabin in Nashville from Johnny Cash - only days before the singer died, has no pressing plans for the future - except one imperative thing. "Raising my daughter is the main thing. She's nine years old, so just a few years away from adolescence - so I have my guns loaded," he laughs.

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